PEN (RAIGAD Dist): Farmers' leaders and representatives in Pen taluka have lashed out at the state for continuing to remain a "mute spectator" des
pite an overwhelming opposition to SEZs. According to them, the dissatisfaction of the landowners had come out in the open during a referendum held last month.

At a press conference held on Monday, president of Peasants and Workers Party N D Patil showed copies of the referendum forms collected from the land-holders who had voted in Pen to prove that over 95% of the farmers were against SEZ.

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Address:
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Contact Person: Zahra Thioune

The full report of the DGP visit with photos is available here:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddp3w2ff_32hcwr52gj&hl=en

DGP CHHATTISGARH UNDER FIRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD AT BERKELEY CONFERENCE
"Arresting Film Maker May Have Been a Mistake": Vishwa Ranjan

For a change, it was the turn of Vishwa Ranjan, the high profile DGP
(Director General of Police) of the Indian State of Chhattisgarh, to
be interrogated. Questioning the DGP about the massive human rights
abuses perpetrated by the police under his direction were over fifty

Media manipulation by police to create a distinct communalied imagery by Sadanand Menon

http://communalism. blogspot. com/2008/ 09/media- manipulation- by-police- to-create. html

The Uses and Misuses of Photographs

Monday, September 22 was an extraordinary day in the annals the Indian media. I would like to call it a day of shame. For, on that day, our media collectively displayed its herd-like mentality and its entirely uncritical attitude to the use – and misuse – of the photographs it publishes.

NEW DELHI: India is home to roughly one-third of all poor people in the world. It also has a higher proportion of its population living on less than $2 per day than even sub-Saharan Africa.

That is the sobering news coming out of the World Bank's latest estimates on global poverty. The fine print of the estimates also shows that the rate of decline of poverty in India was faster between 1981 and 1990 than between 1990 and 2005. This is likely to give fresh ammunition to those who maintain that economic reforms, which started in 1991, have failed to reduce poverty at a faster rate.

http://tinyurl.com/5qlqpn

WHO’S THE REAL HINDU?

by Karan Thapar (Hindustan Times August 30, 2008)

Does the VHP have the right to speak for you or I? Do they reflect
our views? Do we endorse their behaviour? They call themselves the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad, but who says they represent all of us? This
Sunday morning, I want to draw a clear line of distinction between
them and everyone else. My hunch is many of you will agree.

Let me start with the question of conversion — an issue that greatly
exercises the VHP. I imagine there are hundreds of millions of Hindus

A Rehabilitation Policy - that will lead to the development of the nation as well as the displaced Adivasi –
Stan Swamy

The ‘Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy’ of Jharkhand govt is unacceptable.
It is too little, too late. A just and meaningful policy should contain the following elements.

India and China hold the key to world meeting MDGs, says UNICEF flagship report

The State of the Asia Pacific’s Children Report 2008

NEW DELHI/BANGKOK, 5 August 2008 – Global achievement of the health related Millenium Development Goals, the MDGs, depends largely on India’s success and on China accelerating progress even further, according to a new UNICEF report which examines the latest trends in child and maternal health.

For the 2008 Award the theme is: human rights.

The Anupama Jayaraman Memorial Award, 2008
for young women journalists

The Jayaraman family and the Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI) jointly announce the Anupama Jayaraman Memorial Award for young women journalists for the year 2008.

The Award had been set up in the memory of Anupama Jayaraman, a young and promising Bangalore-based journalist who passed away in January 2006. Anupama was not only multi-talented and energetic, but she also demonstrated a keen interest in issues of human rights and social justice.